1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to Power over Ethernet (PoE), and more particularly to a unified bus architecture for PoE communication and control.
2. Background Art
Ethernet communications provide high speed communications between data terminals.
Power over Ethernet (PoE) systems enable power transmission over the same transmission lines that carry data in an Ethernet link. Generally, power is generated at a Power Source Equipment (PSE) side of the PoE system and is carried over an Ethernet cable to a Powered Device (PD) side of the PoE system.
As a result of enabling simultaneous power and data transmission, PoE systems have an isolated side and a non-isolated side, where the isolated side includes data subsystems and the non-isolated side includes power supply subsystems.
The isolated and non-isolated sides of a PoE system have different power requirements. Therefore, communication with the isolated side and communication with the non-isolated side are performed via separate communication buses. This implementation, however, is both expensive and complex, particularly when the number of PoE systems being controlled increases.
There is a need therefore for simplified and more efficient architectures for communication and control in PoE systems.